{"id":49100,"date":"2026-06-12T01:44:38","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T08:44:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=49100"},"modified":"2026-06-10T14:02:25","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T21:02:25","slug":"cutting-grass-with-scissors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2026\/06\/12\/cutting-grass-with-scissors\/","title":{"rendered":"Cutting grass with scissors"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nine years ago, I was walking with my twins, then age 6, to synagogue, when we passed an older woman in her yard, using scissors to cut the grass along the boulevard. At that moment, herding Grade 1 kids along, it felt hard to imagine why anyone would do this. It became a discussion topic.\u00a0 <\/span>Why was this lady using scissors to do this? Was this a sign she wasn\u2019t feeling well (in \u201ckid\u201d talk, aka mental illness)? Did we have to do something to help? We passed this person and her lawn several times on Saturday mornings that summer.<\/p>\n

Recently, I, too, was using scissors to cut the lawn. I wanted to plant some runner beans along our chain link fence. Cutting the longer grass thatch away from this small space before planting was hard to do with our manual reel lawn mower, but the scissors made quick work of the problem. Within moments, I\u2019d cleared away a strip of two to three inches on each side of the fence. With a satisfyingly large pile of thatch and grass for the yard waste, I was ready to start planting.<\/p>\n

This morning, during a heat wave, I was using our mower, which is powered only by human efforts, no gas, no electricity, just a quiet whirr as it works. It struck me that people would look at me the way we looked at the neighbour cutting grass with her scissors. We choose a more environmentally friendly, retro, way to mow. Yes, it\u2019s slower and more work. Yet, cutting the lawn is remarkably Zen. It\u2019s an exercise in meditation, even when it\u2019s hot out.<\/p>\n

Modern spirituality often uses words like Zen, flow, meditation, spiritually alive and \u201cfinding deeper meaning\u201d to help us access these experiences. These buzz words are supposed to differentiate spirituality from religion. As is, \u201cI\u2019m not religious or observant, but I\u2019m spiritual.\u201d Still, there\u2019s nothing new about the concepts behind these terms. Our ancestors also worked to find flow or a Zen state of \u201cbeing nothing\u201d (a Buddhist\/East Asian concept) in their lives.<\/p>\n

I pondered this while attending an after-Kiddush lunch learning session on Shabbat. The speaker, a therapist, introduced the notion of mussar to the crowd with words like \u201cjourney\u201d and \u201cspiritual growth.\u201d He spoke for 45 minutes. I wished I\u2019d gone home to nap. The speaker, recently trained to discuss this Jewish concept, quoted a saying of the Kotzker Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk (1787-1859), but didn\u2019t even give his name. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To summarize the core concepts of mussar to a friend later, here\u2019s what I knew before the talk:<\/p>\n

Mussar was invented in the 19th century in Lithuania based, in part, on medieval Jewish texts. It focuses on moral conduct and positive character building from a Jewish perspective via specific values such as humility and gratitude. Practitioners explore these values via self-reflection, meditation, pair and group dialogue. This growth is intended to be an ongoing self-improvement effort to draw the individual soul towards the Divine.<\/p>\n

Aside from concluding that I may not be destined for these 45 minute after-lunch sessions, I also summed this up in four sentences without using any buzz words to express it. There\u2019s nothing wrong with learning mussar. It\u2019s an approximately 170-year-old form of modern group and individual self-betterment and therapy, through a Jewish lens. This presentation offered it in 21st-century lingo.<\/p>\n

Summer is a great time for celebrations, but it\u2019s also a time to embrace the meditative moments of just being, like hearing the water hit the shore at the ocean, swinging in a hammock, laying in the grass watching clouds, digging in the dirt or pushing the mower back and forth in straight rows. Some of my most transcendent Jewish prayer experiences have happened at Jewish summer camp, outside, singing in harmony while overlooking the lake. The sunshine and the bugs and birds singing \u2013 it\u2019s all a chance to slow down and enjoy amazing moments of wonder and observation in the natural world. It\u2019s a moment to express gratitude for the divine creation we get to experience.<\/p>\n

I, for one, feel wrought up over wars, constant misinformation, concern about relatives and friends in Israel, and in need of more calm. Closer to home, the recent data about the rise in Canadian antisemitic incidents can put a Jewish person\u2019s nervous system in high alert. It\u2019s legitimate to feel anxiety. Still, that\u2019s not healthy all the time.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For many, big gatherings in the sunshine are not what helps us relax. It\u2019s the quiet state that comes from \u201cbeing nothingness,\u201d according to the Buddhists, our own Jewish traditions and from being alone outdoors and celebrating G-d\u2019s creation.<\/p>\n

Maintaining wonder comes in different forms for all of us. It\u2019s OK to find that flow state, or, as Rabbi Sari Laufer expressed it in a recent Torah commentary about the parsha<\/i> (portion) Naso: \u201cFlow is the mental state where we are deeply immersed, focused and energized \u2013 so much so that time disappears. We forget to eat and sleep. Flow is a peak experience of purpose, creativity and connection. Crucially, flow is not meant to be permanent. We are designed to move in and out of it. A person living perpetually in flow would burn out, would find it utterly unsustainable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Settling down our nervous systems, escaping that adrenalin-fueled anxiety, is essential to maintaining balance during difficult times. One way to do that is through flow-state activities, whether grounded in mussar, daily routines, knitting or attending minyan. It\u2019s sometimes found in a long walk to shul. Still others find it by trimming the grass by hand, a few blades at a time, with scissors. I think back on that woman, sitting on the ground, rapt with concentration, and marvel. In the Babylonian Talmud, in the Tractate of Berachot, on page 62a, the rabbis recount stories of students following their mentors to the bathroom and even the bedroom. Why? Everyday activities can be holy and essential to our wellbeing. Like cutting blades of grass, staring at the clouds, or finding one\u2019s flow state \u2013 this is also Torah.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Joanne Seiff <\/b>has written regularly for the Winnipeg Free Press and various Jewish publications. She is the author of three books, including <\/i>From the Outside In: Jewish Post Columns 2015-2016, a collection of essays available for digital download or as a paperback from Amazon. Check her out on Instagram @yrnspinner<\/a> or at joanneseiff.blogspot.com<\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nine years ago, I was walking with my twins, then age 6, to synagogue, when we passed an older woman in her yard, using scissors to cut the grass along the boulevard. At that moment, herding Grade 1 kids along, it felt hard to imagine why anyone would do this. It became a discussion topic.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[218,8302,20304,2172,8260],"class_list":["post-49100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-op-ed","tag-judaism","tag-lifestyle","tag-mussar","tag-torah","tag-zen"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49100\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}